Curtain hanging

ABSTRACT

A curtain or drapery hanger is provided which includes a body having a vertical dovetailed slot with forwardly extending side walls, one of which is wider than the other, each of the forward edges of the side walls having a flange extending towards the other wall. The hanger includes a keeper or tongue element complimentary in shape to the space defined by the walls of the body member and adapted to engage drapery material which is slid into the slot by sideways insertion of the tongue towards the wider side wall.

llnited States Patent [19] Thomson 1 Jan. 15, 1974 CURTAIN HANGING Gwendoline May Thomson, PO. Box 49017, Rosettenville, Johannesburg, South Africa Filed: Oct. 4, 1971 Appl. No.: 186,063

Inventor:

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 13, 1970 South Africa 70/6975 US. Cl l6/87.2, 24/263 FC, 24/243 K, 24/245 R [51] Int. Cl A47h 13/00 [58] Field of Search 16/87.2; 24/243 K, 24/243 M, 243 N, 263 HE, 263 PC, 263 PC,

263 SW, 263 R, 243 HE, 243 GC, 245 R; 160/348 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,975,000 9/1934 Beaumont et a1 160/348 2,074,928 3/1937 Miller 160/348 1,863,638 6/1932 Richter 16/872 1,390,608 9/1921 Fleming 4 24/243 M 2,121,147 6/1938 Goodrich 24/243 K 1,345,136 6/1920 Cowan 24/243 K FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,102,357 3/1961 Germany 24/243 HE 899,575 6/1962 Great Britain 16/872 42,164 5/1965 Germany l6/87.2 984,214 2/1965 Great Britain 16/87.2 1,102,356 3/1961 Germany 16/872 Primary Examiner-Bobby R. Gay Assistant Examiner-Peter A. Aschenbrenner Attorney-:Scn'vener, Parker, Scrivener and Clarke W [5 7] ABSTRACT A curtain or drapery hanger is provided which includes a body having a vertical dovetailed slot with forwardly extending side walls, one of which is wider than the other, each of the forward edges of the side walls having a flange extending towards the other wall. The hanger includes a keeper or tongue element complimentary in shape to the space defined by the walls of the body member and adapted to engage drapery material which is slid into the slot by sideways insertion of the tongue towards the wider side wall.

3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures CURTAIN HANGING This invention relates to curtain hanging.

It is well known to suspend a curtain from a rail or the like by means of rings, rollers or other suitable conveyor means movable along the rail to permit the curtain to be opened and closed. It is common practice individually to sew each ring or the like on the upper edge of the curtain or, alternatively, releasably to engage the conveyor means with a special tape or the like sewn along the upper edge of the curtain.

It will be appreciated that the individual attachment of rings or the like to a curtain or even the sewing to a curtain of a tape adapted detachably to receive rings, rollers or other suitable conveyor means, can be a time consuming task. This is particularly the case with flat dwellers who often move from one flat to another at relatively short intervals and require new curtains to suit each new flat they occupy.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to avoid or at least to minimise the above disadvantage.

According to the invention a curtain suspension unit includes gripping means releasably engageable with the upper edge of a curtainrand mounting means engageable with a ring, roller or other curtain conveyor means.

The mounting means may include an aperture adapted to receive a ring or an engagement part of curtain conveyor means.

The gripping means may include a pair of interengageable parts adapted releasably to grip the upper edge of the curtain between them.

Preferably, the interengagement between the parts is such that the weight of the curtain acts to increase the grip of the interengaging parts on the curtain. The parts may be provided with ribs, toothed formations, serrations or the like or may simply present roughened engagement surfaces, to enhance their engagement with the curtain.

At least one of the interengageable parts may be at least partially resilient, such resiliency being utilised to effect releasable interengagement of the two parts with the curtain located between them. One or both of the two interengageable parts may be made of polymer ma terial or any other suitable material having a certain amount of resiliency.

The one part may include a grooved formation in which the other part is engageable. The two parts preferably present complementary tongue and groove formations of dove-tailed configuration. The grooved part may include an aperture adapted to receive conveyor means or part thereof.

The two interengaging parts may taper towards their ends engaging the curtain so that downward force exerted on the interengaging parts by the weight of the curtain increases the engagement between the two parts and their grip on the curtain.

The curtain suspension unit may include at least one shaping formation adapted to form one or more folds or pleats in the curtain or to cause one or more folds or pleats to be formed in the curtain.

A groove defining formation on the grooved part may also constitute the shaping formation.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. I is an exploded perspective view of a curtain suspension unit according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the suspension unit of FIG. 1 in engaged condition and hanging from a rail.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the location of the upper edge of a curtain round the tongue part of the suspension unit of FIG. 1, for interengagement with the grooved part of the suspension unit.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the engagement of the tongue part and curtain formation shown in FIG. 3, with the grooved part of the suspension unit of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the grooved and tongue parts of the suspension unit of FIG.'1, in interengaged position with the curtain trapped between them.

Referring first to FIG. ll, the suspension unit comprises grooved part A and tongue part B which are releasably interengageable so as releasably to trap the upper edge of a curtain between them.

Grooved part A presents groove 1 which has a downwardly tapering, dove-tailed configuration and which is defined by rear wall 2, side walls 3a and 3b which slope downwardly and inwardly, and inwardly directed front flanges 4 and 5. Side wall 311 is longer than side wall 3b so that groove 1 is wider at side wall 3a than at side wall 3b. Rear wall 2 presents mounting protrusion 6 presenting aperture 7. The longer front flange 4 presents integral extension 4a acting as a shaping formation.

Tongue part B is complementary in shape to groove 1 in grooved part A and is made of rubber or any other suitable resilient material. Tongue part B tapers downwardly in conformity with groove 1 and is thicker along vertical side 8a than along vertical side 8b.

In use, the suspension unit may be releasably engaged with the upper edge of a curtain 9 as will now be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. The upper edge of curtain 9 is wrapped round tongue member B as shown in FIG. 3. The thicker side 8a of tongue member B with the curtain wrapped round it, is then inserted into groove 1 in grooved member A through the opening 10 between front flanges 4, 5 in the direction of arrow X from the shorter front flange 5 towards the longer front flange 4, thereby to engage the tongue member B and the curtain portion wrapped round it, behind the longer front flange 4 as shown in FIG. 4. Thereafter, the thinner side 8b of tongue part B is forced into groove 1 past the shorter front flange 5 in a direction transversely to rear wall 2 as indicated by arrow Y in FIG. 4, thereby to engage tongue member B and the curtain in groove 1 as shown in FIG. 5.

A plurality of suspension units similar to that shown in FIG. 1, may be releasably engaged with the upper edge of curtain 9 in spaced relationship along the upper edge of the curtain. As shown in FIG. 2, each suspension unit may be connected through the aperture 7 in its mounting protrusion 6, to the loop 1 1 of its own roller assembly 12, either before or after engagement with the curtain 9. The roller assemblies 12 may be of con= ventional design. All the roller assemblies 12 of the various suspension units may be engaged in conventional manner with a rail 13 (FIG. 2) either before or after connection with the suspension units. Curtain 9 can be opened and closed in conventional manner.

It will be appreciated that due to the downwardly tapering configuration of the interengageable grooved part A and complementary tongue part B of each suspension unit, the downward force exerted by the weight of the curtain tightens the engagement between the two parts and increases their grip on the curtain.

As can be seen from FIG. 5, shaping extension 4a on the longer front flange 4 of grooved part A acts to form a fold or pleat 14 in curtain 9 when the latter is suspended from rail 13 by means of a plurality of suspension units. The shorter front flange co-operates to pleat the curtain and acts to form a fold or pleat 15 in curtain 9.

A curtain suspension unit as described above with reference to the accompanying drawings can be engaged quickly and easily with a curtain without any sewing being required. When necessary, such a suspension unit can easily and quickly be disengaged from a curtain.

It will be appreciated that many variations in detail are possible without departing from the scope of the appended claims. For example, grooved part A may be formed from sheet metal by suitably pressing and/or bending a suitably shaped blank. Alternatively, the grooved part A may be made of polymer material by moulding. The cross-sectional shape and dimensions of the interengageable grooved part A and tongue part B may be varied in accordance with the type of folds or pleats 14, 15 that are required and/or the type of curtaining material used. The shape of flanges 4, 5 may be varied as required to form different sized and/or shaped folds or pleats. The shape of mounting protrusion 6 may also be varied to incorporate its own conveyor means.

I claim:

1. A releasable curtain suspension unit comprising a housing member defining a vertical, open dove-tailed groove defined by a back wall having a pair of downwardly converging side edges, a side wall extending forwardly from each of the side edges of said back wall, one of said side walls having a width greater than the other thereof, and a flange on the front edge of each of said side walls extending towards each other, and a resiliently deformable tongue element complementary in shape to said dove-tailed groove and constructed and arranged to be slidable sideways with curtain material wrapped therearound behind the flange connected to the wider of said side walls and be engaged by resilient deformation behind the flange connected to the other of said side walls, the flange connected to the wider of said side walls having a width greater than the flange connected to the other of said side walls.

2. The suspension unit of claim 1 including mounting means carried by said housing member for supporting the same in its position of use.

3. The suspension unit of claim 1 wherein the flange includes a shaping formation constructed and arranged to produce a pleat in said curtain material of a predetermined size. 

1. A releasable curtain suspension unit comprising a housing member defining a vertical, open dove-tailed groove defined by a back wall having a pair of downwardly converging side edges, a side wall extending forwardly from each of the side edges of said back wall, one of said side walls having a width greater than the other thereof, and a flange on the front edge of each of said side walls extending towards each other, and a resiliently deformable tongue element complementary in shape to said dovetailed groove and constructed and arranged to be slidable sideways with curtain material wrapped therearound behind the flange connected to the wider of said side walls and be engaged by resilient deformation behind the flange connected to the other of said side walls, the flange connected to the wider of said side walls having a width greater than the flange connected to the other of said side walls.
 2. The suspension unit of claim 1 including mounting means carried by said housing member for supporting the same in its position of use.
 3. The suspension unit of claim 1 wherein the wider flange includes a shaping formation constructed and arranged to produce a pleat in said curtain material of a predetermined size. 